Nitish Denies Neglect of Flood Victims
Patna: Aug. 6, 2007
 With flood continuing to play havoc in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, lashed out at the opposition leaders for criticizing the administration over flood relief operation saying it was inaccurate to say that he was only conducting aerial survey of the flood-hit areas but was not concerned with the welfare of the flood victims.
"Contrary to the allegations made by the opposition leaders, I am conducting talks with public representatives and flood victims in flood-affected areas. I am also holding meetings with flood-relief officials in all districts and am in constant touch with District Magistrates (DMs) and Special District Magistrates who are providing me feedback on all flood-related issues," Kumar said.
The Chief Minister said air-dropping in Bihar would continue as long as it was needed and with more motorboats now plying in various state rivers, relief work was going on on a war-footing scale.
Meanwhile, many rivers in Bihar continued to show signs of recession despite hundred of thousands of villages still remaining under flood water.
Traffic on Darbhanga-Muzaffarpur NH-57 returned to normal and other highways in the state also showed sign of life as construction crew worked overtime to repair damaged roads in Saharsa, Supaul, Purnia, Darbhanga, Sheohar, Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, and Madhepura, officials in Patna said.
Helicopters on Monday dropped thousands of packets of relief items including sattu, salt, candles, matches, and polythene sheets to build temporary shelters in elevated areas.
While there had been no rain in the last few days, it would take weeks before situation is brought under some control, Emergency Management chief secretary Manoj Srivastava said.
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